Dear friends and colleagues
Please permit me to publicise an academic conference that we're holding at
Hong Kong Baptist University on 15-17 December 2021.
The conference will be an ideal forum in which to discuss research
methodologies, issues of collaborativity, theoretical frameworks that have
proven valuable for the study of Wikipedia translation, the use of
Wikipedia in the translation classroom and by translation professionals,
and the nature of Wikipedia translation and how it differs not only from
other more traditional types of translation but also from other newly
emerging types. While the conference's main focus is interlingual
translation within the online encyclopaedia, we are also interested
in research into the multilingual Wikipedia that makes no explicit
reference to translation issues.
The conference will be online, face-to-face or mixed mode, depending on
prevailing circumstances. Please see the conference website at
https://ctn.hkbu.edu.hk/wikiconf2021/ for full details and the Call for
Papers.
I hope to see some of you there!
Mark
Professor Mark Shuttleworth 夏致遠
Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies
Hong Kong Baptist University
Phone: +852 3411 6641
http://www.tran.hkbu.edu.hkhttps://ctn.hkbu.edu.hk/wikiconf2021/
--
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Dear all,
Over the last few months, a small team at the Wikimedia Foundation has been
working on a project that has been discussed by many people in our movement
for many years: building ‘enterprise grade’ services for the high-volume
commercial reusers of Wikimedia content. I am pleased to say that in a
remarkably short amount of time (considering the complexity of the issues:
technical, strategic, legal, and financial) we now have something worthy of
showing to the community, and we are asking for your feedback. Allow me to
introduce you to the Wikimedia Enterprise API project – formerly codenamed
“okapi”.
While the general idea for Wikimedia Enterprise predates the current
movement strategy process, its recommendations identify an enterprise API
as one possible solution to both “Increase the sustainability of our
movement” and “Improve User Experience.”[0] That is, to simultaneously
create a new revenue stream to protect Wikimedia’s sustainability, and
improve the quality and quantity of Wikimedia content available to our many
readers who do not visit our websites directly (including more consistent
attribution). Moreover, it does so in a way that is true to our movement’s
culture: with open source software, financial transparency, non-exclusive
contracts or content, no restrictions on existing services, and free access
for Wikimedia volunteers who need it.
The team believes we are on target to achieve those goals and so we have
written a lot of documentation to get your feedback about our progress and
where it could be further improved before the actual product is ‘launched’
in the next few months. We have been helped in this process over the last
several months by approximately 100 individual volunteers (from many
corners of the wikiverse) and representatives of affiliate organisations
who have reviewed our plans and provided invaluable direction, pointing out
weaknesses and opportunities, or areas lacking clarity and documentation in
our drafts. Thank you to everyone who has shared your time and expertise to
help prepare this new initiative.
A essay describing the “why?” and the “how?” of this project is now on
Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Essay
Also now published on Meta are an extensive FAQ, operating principles, and
technical documentation on MediaWiki.org. You can read these at [1] [2] and
[3] respectively. Much of this documentation is already available in
French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
The Wikimedia Enterprise team is particularly interested in your feedback
on how we have designed the checks and balances to this project - to ensure
it is as successful as possible at achieving those two goals described
above while staying true to the movement’s values and culture. For example:
Is everything covered appropriately in the “Principles” list? Is the
technical documentation on MediaWiki.org clear? Are the explanations in the
“FAQ” about free-access for community, or project’s legal structure, or the
financial transparency (etc.) sufficiently detailed?
Meet the team and Ask Us Anything:
The central place to provide written feedback about the project in general
is on the talkpage of the documentation on Meta at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise
On this Friday (March 19) we will be hosting two “Office hours”
conversations where anyone can come and give feedback or ask questions:
-
13:00 UTC via Zoom at https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95580273732
-
22:00 UTC via Zoom at https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/92565175760 (note:
this is Saturday in Asia/Oceania)
Other “office hours” meetings can be arranged on-request on a technical
platform of your choosing; and we will organise more calls in the future.
We will also be attending the next SWAN meetings (on March 21)
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network, and
also the next of the Wikimedia Clinics
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics
Moreover, we would be very happy to accept any invitation to attend an
existing group call that would like to discuss this topic (e.g. an
affiliate’s members’ meeting).
On behalf of the Wikimedia Enterprise team,
Peace, Love & Metadata
-- Liam Wyatt [Wittylama], Wikimedia Enterprise project community liaison.
[0]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme…
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/FAQ
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Principles
[3] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise
*Liam Wyatt [Wittylama]*
WikiCite <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite> Program Manager & Wikimedia
Enterprise <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Okapi> Community Liaison
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello, everyone.
TLDR:
The Board of Trustees’ Community Affairs Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
(CAC) is hosting its first office hour on May 13, 2021 at 19:00 UTC (check
for your local time <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1620928828>)!
Now in more details:
What are we announcing?
The CAC is a new Board of Trustees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees>
committee established to assess, explore and address current and future
community-related efforts. The Committee's Charter
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Affairs_Committee_Charter>
lists its full responsibilities, with the first 3 being a priority for this
coming year.
As part of our commitment to foster better communications with the
Wikimedia Movement Community, and based on feedback received from community
members requesting more availability from the Board of Trustees, the CAC
will be hosting its first Office hours.
When & Where?
The Office hours will be held on May 13 2021, at 19:00 UTC (check for your
local time <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1620928828>) via Zoom. At least
3 Trustees, as well as relevant WMF staff will be in attendance. The
session will be streamed live and recorded, so those who cannot participate
live will be able to watch later.
How will it work?
The meeting will last for 60 minutes and an additional 30 minutes of an
“open room”. The first 60 minutes will be divided into 45 minutes of
structured Q & A (based on either updates from the CAC and questions sent
by the community in advance). The final 15 minutes will be in the “ask us
anything” format, with live participation. We will be monitoring live
YouTube, Wikipedia Weekly Facebook group
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/553393111375191> and the Wikimedia General
Chat Telegram group <https://t.me/WikimediaGeneral> and the talk page on
Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>.
The structure is meant to enable the CAC to not only update the community
on current matters the Board is working on, but also hear directly from the
community, which will help inform the Committee’s future work.
Setting the agenda with your Questions
In order to be as efficient as possible, and since we anticipate that some
questions will require answers from WMF Staff, we are encouraging community
members to send questions in advance. Please send all questions to
askcac(a)wikimedia.org, by Friday, May 7th (midnight, whatever time zone you
may be in). The office hour agenda will be based on the main topics related
to the questions received. We will share this agenda on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
on May 12, including final names of Trustees in attendance.
How to register?
For security reasons and specifically to avoid Zoombombing
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoombombing>, we will be sending the Zoom
link only to people who have registered in advance close to the meeting. In
order to register, please send an email to askcac(a)wikimedia.org, indicating
your name, username, affiliation if you have any. The title should be:
“Registration for the May 13th CAC Office Hours”.
Please note --
-
This is the first time that the Board is attempting something of the
sort. This is an experiment. We’ll see how it goes - how many people are
interested in attending, timing, translation needs etc -- and make
decisions about future meetings / changes to format accordingly.
-
The session will be moderated based on the Universal Code of Conduct
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct>
-
Universally blocked users will not be allowed in the room, but can still
participate by watching live and sending questions in real-time.
Please help us spread the word by sharing this message with your local /
online communities.
Hoping to see as many of you as possible,
Shani Evenstein Sigalov
Chair, Community Affairs Committee
Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation.
Shani Evenstein Sigalov
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
According to the recent Independent Auditors' Report of the WMF [1], at
some point prior to the end of June 2020, an entity called the "Wikimedia
Knowledge Equity Fund" was established, and $8.723 million was transferred
to it by the WMF, in the form of an unconditional grant. The Fund is
"managed and controlled by Tides Advocacy" (a 501(c)(4) advocacy nonprofit
previously led by the WMF's current General Counsel/Board Secretary, who
served as CEO, Board Secretary, and Treasurer there). Given that a Google
search for "Wikimedia Knowledge Equity Fund" yields zero results prior to
the release of the report, it is clear that the WMF kept this significant
move completely secret for over five months, perhaps over a year. The
Report FAQ additionally emphasizes that the WMF "has no right of return to
the grant funds provided, with the exception of unexpended funds."
The WMF unilaterally and secretly transferred nearly $9 million of movement
funds to an outside organization not recognized by the Affiliations
Committee. No mention of the grant was made in any Board resolutions or
minutes from the relevant time period. The amount was not mentioned in the
public annual plan, which set out rather less than this amount for the
entire grantmaking budget for the year. No application was made through any
of the various Wikimedia grants processes. No further information has been
provided on the administration of this new Fund, or on the text of the
grant agreement.
I am appalled.
-- Yair Rand
[1]
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/f/f7/Wikimedia_Foundation…
Hi,
COVID-19 has hit hard in India again making it the leading epicentre of the
disease caused by the new mutated strains. The infection and death tolls
have reached record high and the health system in different parts of the
country is on the verge of collapse.
Like other common people, many Wikimedians might have lost their jobs last
year. Like last year, this year too, many volunteers have been infected and
hospitalised. Some of them have lost their family members, relatives,
friends and other dear ones.
Volunteer online community is the heart of our movement and every
dedicated, experienced and long-term volunteers are our most valuable
asset. It is not at all exaggerating to say that many language Wikimedia
projects or WikiProjects are dependent completely on one (or two or
three...) person's persistence to build it as a tall building from scratch
and if we lose some of those people, those projects might totally stop
forever. There are so many fantastic people in the movement who have been
doing incredible work in their volunteer capacity for such a long time
(sometimes more than a decade) to make what Wikimedia is today.
I would like to urge people with power and money in the movement to find a
way to protect these assets. We not only cannot afford to lose them, but
also need to proactively protect them. Maybe a small step to provide
personal or family COVID-19 insurance might help a lot. Maybe sending money
to buy COVID-19 vaccines might save some of them. Who knows?
If we can spend millions of dollars for conferences or a couple of hundred
thousand dollars to celebrate 20 years of Wikipedia during Wikimania, can
we not spend a few thousand dollars to protect at least some of the people
around the globe to some extent who made it possible to turn Wikipedia into
its 20th birthday?
Disclaimer: I had tried to convince the grants team from my personal
capacity last year when COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in India but was
denied due to their legal concerns regarding insurance registration as well
as settlement and liability issues. Few others tried to convince them too
but failed. I am reaching out to the community to start a conversation this
time and find a way together.
I am sorry for my long mail. I could not help it.
Regards,
Bodhisattwa
Hi all,
Join the Research Team at the Wikimedia Foundation [1] for their monthly
Office hours on 2021-05-04 at 16:00-17:00 UTC (9am PT/6pm CET).
To participate, join the video-call via this link [2]. There is no set
agenda - feel free to add your item to the list of topics in the etherpad
[3] (You can do this after you join the meeting, too.), otherwise you are
welcome to also just hang out. More detailed information (e.g. about how to
attend) can be found here [4].
Through these office hours, we aim to make ourselves more available to
answer some of the research related questions that you as Wikimedia
volunteer editors, organizers, affiliates, staff, and researchers face in
your projects and initiatives. Some example cases we hope to be able to
support you in:
-
You have a specific research related question that you suspect you
should be able to answer with the publicly available data and you don’t
know how to find an answer for it, or you just need some more help with it.
For example, how can I compute the ratio of anonymous to registered editors
in my wiki?
-
You run into repetitive or very manual work as part of your Wikimedia
contributions and you wish to find out if there are ways to use machines to
improve your workflows. These types of conversations can sometimes be
harder to find an answer for during an office hour, however, discussing
them can help us understand your challenges better and we may find ways to
work with each other to support you in addressing it in the future.
-
You want to learn what the Research team at the Wikimedia Foundation
does and how we can potentially support you. Specifically for affiliates:
if you are interested in building relationships with the academic
institutions in your country, we would love to talk with you and learn
more. We have a series of programs that aim to expand the network of
Wikimedia researchers globally and we would love to collaborate with those
of you interested more closely in this space.
-
You want to talk with us about one of our existing programs [5].
Hope to see many of you,
Martin on behalf of the WMF Research Team
[1] https://research.wikimedia.org/team.html
[2] https://meet.jit.si/WMF-Research-Office-Hours
[3] https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Research-Analytics-Office-hours
[4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Office_hours
[5] https://research.wikimedia.org/projects.html
--
Martin Gerlach
Research Scientist
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello Librarians and library lovers,
(Sorry for cross posting)
>From May 15th to June 5th 2021, we will be joining together once again to
continue providing reliable and factual information to the world through
Wikipedia and the #1lib1ref campaign. To participate is easy, simply add a
citation to Wikipedia!![1]
*May Experiments *
This May we are focused on:
-
growing the campaign in East and South East Asia with local affiliates
-- if you want to help contact Venus Lui via (vlui-ctr(a)wikimedia.org) or
me.
-
working closely with AfLIA to sustain our relationship with the
Librarians network in Africa. Last year the participation from African
Librarians was overwhelming, recording about 84% of the total numbers of
edits attained (33,257). This surged our campaign to a staggering increase
of 394%YoY for the May campaign.[2]
-
Supporting our long standing partner for the campaign, IFLA as they
explore citations on Wikidata [3][4]
How can you engage?
We invite you to engage in three ways:
-
Make an edit - Participate globally and virtually by adding citations to
Wikipedia.[5]
-
Organise - Lead a community activity or event in your library, country
or region.[6]
-
Amplify - Share and just keep sharing the campaign within your networks
and help us reach out to library and research communities around the
world.[7]
Join local events or editathons
If you are organising an activity virtually or providing a space to teach
or train people with an interest in the campaign, please add your event(s)
here.[8] In light of the pandemic, we strongly encourage virtual activities
and advise everyone to follow the WHO health guidelines.[9] If restrictions
have been lifted in your country and are considering organising in-person
events, kindly follow the Wikimedia COVID risk assessment for events.[10]
Ensure all your contributions are recorded by using the #1Lib1Ref hashtag
in your edit summary! Add your activity to the campaign dashboard to help
us track the activities happening across the globe.[11] This is very
important for us to monitor the reach and success of the initiative.
Learn more in our office hour
Join the next campaigns office hour on Thursday 13th May at 3:00pm UTC,
where we will share about strategies in Asia and Africa, under the
theme “exploring
regional or thematic approaches to campaigns in tackling topics of interest
”.[12]
Please tell your library, researcher and knowledge-loving friends about
#1Lib1Ref in May. We need everyone's help to make Wikipedia more reliable!
You can join the 1Lib1Ref community via the Libraries (
libraries(a)lists.wikimedia.org), and 1Lib1Ref (1lib1ref(a)lists.wikimedia.org)
mailing lists, or by joining the Wikimedia + Libraries User Group.[13]
Cheers,
Felix Nartey
[1] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref
[2] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref/Lessons/May_…
[3] -
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:IFLA_Wikidata_Working_Group/1Lib1Ref
[4] -
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:IFLA_Wikidata_Working_Group/1Lib1Ref
[5] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:MyLanguage/The_Wikiped…
[6] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:MyLanguage/The_Wikiped…
[7] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref/Share
[8] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:The_Wikipedia_Library/1Lib1Ref/Eve…
[9] - https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
[10] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Risk_assessment_during_COVID-19
[11] -
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/campaigns/1lib1ref_may_2021/programs
[12] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Campaigns/Foundation_Campaigns_Team#Office_…
[13] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_and_Libraries_User_Group
--
Felix Nartey
Senior Program Officer, Campaigns
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>